Conversations between a Father and a Brother
by ScarletteSorceress
Summary: Why did Baltigo have to be so hot? And what better way to skive off paperwork than to talk to your esteemed leader about his wife, am I right? Honestly, what was Sabo thinking? Takes place before Marineford and is a conversation between the two dorks that lead the revolutionaries. Possible OOC.


**A/N: Hey everyone. This is a one-shot that was inspired by ****daddyleaderdragon**** on tumblr and the headcanons they have about Dragon's family. I added some of my own and this way the result. I hope you like it and go follow them on tumblr for all your Daddy!Dragon needs~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece :'(**

The harsh wind blew in to the room from the desert heat outside, making a blonde man whine from where he was spread out on a chair. Most likely he was trying to dodge his paperwork again. He sat up with a huff, glaring moodily at the window before turning his eyes to the only other man in the room.

"Why do we not keep the windows closed all the time?" He pouted, watching as the large man turned to him with a slightly amused smirk.

"You know the answer to that already Sabo. You've only asked that question a hundred times by now."

Sabo pouted at his superior and flopped back into his chair with a loud sigh.

Dragon chuckled slightly at the childish antics the young man was displaying. It always amused him how Sabo could switch between serious and silly at the flick of a switch. He turned to continue with his paperwork though not before throwing a pointed look to the stack in front of his Chief of Staff.

"If it annoys you that much go and close the window." He advised, not even needing to look at the blonde's face to see the grumpy pout that was being directed to him.

"But that requires moving and it's too hot to bother."

"It's not going to get any cooler with you complaining about it and not doing anything to stop it."

"Well it should." Sabo whined, throwing his hands up into the air with a frustrated groan. Dragon chuckled slightly at the dramatic man, avoiding the glare he knew was directed at his head as he got up from his desk.

Striding quickly across the room he then proceeded to close every window in the office before getting out one of the interior Den Den Mushi's. These snails were positioned all over Baltigo and allowed him to check up on all his divisions and maintain the base was running smoothly. They also allowed him to order room service from the kitchen (something he was eternally grateful for).

It was to the head of the kitchens that he made his first call.

"Wanda, would you be able to bring up two extra large triple decker ice cream sundaes? We have a whiny blonde on our hands complaining about the heat."

He could hear Wanda's laugh bubbling from the snail and was glad the kind-hearted cook was so generous. He was also pretty sure he could hear the groan from the kitchen staff as Wanda agreed to his order.

"Should we throw an impromptu ice cream party Dragon-san? The heat seems to have gotten stronger lately."

Dragon grinned slightly at the thought and gave his consent. His revolutionaries had been working themselves ragged lately; it only seemed fair that he'd give them a surprise reward in thanks (though from the stacks of paperwork still lying on his desk he had to wonder what he was thanking them for.)

Sabo's face had lit up at the mention of ice cream and he was suddenly at his side in a flash.

"Can I have rainbow sprinkles on mine? Pretty please Wanda?"

This time Wanda wasn't the only one to laugh.

"Of course you can sweetie. I'll be up in a second."

With that the transmission ended, allowing Dragon to turn to the young man with a dead pan stare.

"You're suddenly full of energy." He remarked, a smile tugging his lips as he heard Sabo laugh sheepishly.

"Ice cream." Sabo explained as if that made all the sense in the world. And considering who the blonde was it really did.

Dragon shook his head with a chuckle of his own before going over to the schedule sheets and searching for Koala's name. He would need to know which area she was in to be able to call her. As soon as he saw her name in the artillery he made an immediate call and got Travis on the end.

"Is Koala available Travis?"

"Yes sir. She's just finished teaching Rachel about proper gun handling. Do you want me to send her up?"

"No. I just need to ask her when she's going to release Sabo from being grounded."

He could hear a muffled shout and wasn't really surprised when the snail started laughing.

"She says when he's finished his paperwork."

Dragon sighed. He had a feeling that would be the girl's answer. He looked towards the pile that was still sitting on the blonde's desk and then to the blonde in question. He was leaning over Dragon's desk, staring at one of the many pieces of paper that littered the surface.

"Well he's not leaving this office for a week if that's true."

The snail gave one last laugh before falling back to sleep, the call ended. Dragon rubbed his temples before moving back towards his desk.

"You're not getting out of here until you've finished and that pile is not decreasing on it's own." He pointed out as he sat back down.

Sabo didn't reply. He only proceeded to pick up the paper he was looking at and hold it closer to his eyes. It was highly odd. Given the mood he was in Dragon highly expected him to start whining again.

"...I didn't know you could draw..." The young man muttered as he turned curious eyes towards his superior. Out of the ten years he had known the man Sabo had never had the faintest inkling that his leader had any other talents other than to stir up trouble. But there was evidence in his hand now that completely blew his mind.

In the margins of the paper a woman's smile greeted him with soft love and humour radiating from her gentle eyes. There was another one of the same lady, long black hair sweeping gently across her face as she slept. All around the page there were doodles of the same woman; laughing, eating, sleeping, pouting, a never ending list of expressions. But in each one her wide eyes were gentle, loving and kind.

Or maybe it was the way Dragon had drawn her that made her appear loving. There was no doubt in Sabo's mind that his leader knew this woman extremely well.

Dragon gently took the paper from him and looked it over with a soft smile. He hadn't even realised he was doodling.

"I don't get to very often now." He confided, turning the soft smile up to Sabo and pulling a chair out for the other man to sit in.

Sabo accepted the seat with a grateful nod, not taking his eyes away from his superior. It was not the first time he had seen such a soft look on Dragon's face but it was usually aimed towards himself, Koala, or little Richie who had just joined: the three revolutionaries who had joined as children and Dragon had a hand in raising. It was a look full of love, pride, and happiness that had never failed to make the young man feel warm and safe.

The fact that Dragon would look at the woman in the same way he would look at them gave him enough evidence to know that this woman was family to him; whether she was his sister or lover he couldn't tell.

"Who is she?" he asked carefully, indicating the paper Dragon still held gently in his hand. Normally he would never dream of prying into his superiors private life (Dragon had respected his own privacy towards his family, the only thing he really knew was that Sabo had two brothers, and Sabo had no wish to revoke that courtesy) but he was intrigued. There was something about the woman that was achingly familiar; maybe it was the light that shone through the ink of her eyes, or even the twinkle of a smile that persisted through the penmanship.

Either way Sabo felt he should know this woman and it was driving him mad that he couldn't place a name.

"Her name is Lucy...my wife." Dragon confided after a moment of silence and the proud love flowed over his words and filled the room in a way that only true love was capable of.

Call him an idiot for still believing in love after everything he had been through, but when Sabo heard Dragon speak the name of his beloved he knew there was nothing else that could be shared between those two.

A lingering glance at the paper revealed the connection he felt to her. She had the same smile as Luffy; this was his mother, immortalised in ink and still shining like her son did. It was so obvious to him now. The shape of her face, the angle of her jaw, the innocent smile, the brightness of her eyes; they were all traits she shared with her son. And now that Sabo knew the connection he felt like a fool for not realising it before.

"Can you tell me about her?" he blurted out with all the eagerness of an orphan learning about his parents for the first time, and with none of the reservations of talking to his superior.

Dragon looked at him, startled by his eagerness before his face shone with joy at the prospect of talking about his beloved Lucy.

"She is a wonderful person. She's kind and sweet and she rarely loses her temper. She never yells at me even when I've done something that she doesn't agree with. I only remember her curse once and that was to yell at the World for what they were doing to our family."

He looked down at the drawings with a sad smile before looking over to the picture from the wanted poster that he had framed for his desk. His baby boy's smile beamed out at him and he chuckled slightly, running light fingers over the glass in wonder. He looked so much like his mother...

"Sir?"

Sabo was slightly concerned when he watched Dragon's eyes darken in anger. It was common for him to start brooding whenever the World Government was brought up but this time something similar to guilt started swimming in his eyes.

"...We had a son; a bright baby boy..." he whispered before reaching into a drawer and withdrawing a worn photograph and handing it to Sabo.

The blonde man took it gently like it was a sacred text of a long forgotten religion; holy, pure, and precious. The photo was worn around the edges with love and age but it clearly depicted a smiling couple with a baby in between them. Dragon was younger in the picture, smiling proudly as he held up the baby's hand to wave at the photographer; seventeen years worth of worry and hardship had not yet hardened his eyes and soul. The woman in the photo, Lucy, looked tired but her eyes and smile glowed in perfect happiness. Obviously this photo had been taken not too long after the delivery, judging by her hospital gown and exhausted features. But still she cradled baby Luffy in her arms with obvious tenderness that still echoed in the seventeen year gap between the photo and the present.

There was another man beside her, an arm wrapped around her shoulder and a proud grin on his face. His greying hair was reaching his shoulders and was more grey than the strawberry blonde that seemed to streak the silver strands. He too looked like he should be familiar but Sabo had a better grip on who that man might be.

"Isn't that-"

"Dark King Rayleigh, yeah. He's a good friend of ours." Dragon said with a secretive smile, cluing Sabo in to the fact he had not been told the whole truth. Well if that's how Dragon wanted to play it he would find out on his own.

"You all look so happy." Sabo commented, unwillingly flashing back to the only family portrait he could remember his birth parents owning and even then his mother had refused to hold him, preferring to stand by his father as a servant held him up by their sides. Needless to say he much preferred the picture Dadan had taken of him and his brothers sleeping in a pile together, tangled in a mess of limbs and blankets. He still had that picture, having stolen it from Dadan before he had been forced to leave his life of freedom in return for his brothers' lives.

"It was one of the best days of my life." Dragon confided with a soft smile, taking the picture back like he was cradling a priceless treasure and in a way he was. That picture was one of the only ones he had of all three of them together. It was one of him most treasured possessions and it had always reminded him of the world he was fighting for; a world where his son could have grown up never knowing the fear of being caged and hunted for his name.

"And then the World tore us apart."

The anger and bitterness that coated his words didn't surprise Sabo one bit. He knew the older man cared a lot about his family and cared a lot about preserving children's innocence. It was one of the reasons he had not extended a formal invitation to join the revolutionaries until he was seventeen despite the fact the blonde had been living with them for seven years by that point. He had trained him and protected him but he had allowed Sabo the choice of becoming a revolutionary over becoming a pirate.

"What happened to her?" Sabo asked quietly, feeling bad for wondering if she was dead. It was something that had always intrigued him as a child; what happened to Luffy's parents. Garp never mentioned his son in front of the brothers and he couldn't remember an instance when Garp had mentioned his daughter-in-law.

"She's in hiding; on an island not too far from here. She's a normal citizen so the marines have no reason to suspect she is my wife and the mother to my child." Dragon told him, a smile lighting up those previously angry eyes. It seemed that even the thought of Lucy was enough to cheer him up, no matter what the cause of his anger was.

"That's good." Sabo sighed, relieved for some unknown reason. He had never met the woman! But she was Luffy's mother and that made her important to him.

With that revelation he continued to ask Dragon for details, stopping only to thank Wanda for the ice creams before being pulled back in to a tale of love, kindness, and the loyalty two people could have for one another. The tales Dragon spun continued to fill in the picture of Lucy in his mind until he was almost convinced he could hear her gentle laugh, echoing across the vast ocean. In the end neither of them got much paperwork done by the time Koala had come up to check on Sabo but it didn't bother the blonde too much. What he had got that day was far more important that any sheet of paper could ever be.


End file.
